Between The Lines
by Loutopia
Summary: The first part of a series of pieces intended to explore what happens between one episode of Robin Hood and the next. We begin with Robin saying farewell to Marian as he embarks for the Holy Land, breaking their troth.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **The following is the first part of a series of short pieces written with a mind to 'filling in the blanks' of what happens between each episode of the BBC's production of _Robin Hood_. Each piece will be inspired by a particular song and in this, the first piece, we see what happened before Episode 1 of Series 1. In each of the following chapters I will provide a link to the Episode Guide at the BBC Official Website for everyone to utilise should they need it. So read, enjoy, review. 3

_Song for this piece: 'Please Forgive Me' - Bryan Adams_

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PLEASE FORGIVE ME

_Prelude_

"Don't go." A pair of heartbreakingly blue eyes searched a pair of equal hue for some sort of meaning in the wake of the bad news just received. There was a long pause between the young couple standing beneath a large leafy tree on the outskirts of Knighton Hall's grounds, the taller boy looking away in anguish and the younger girl demanding he look back to her with a firm hand on his.

"I must," replied the boy, his unruly honey blonde locks ruffled in the cool autumn wind that threatened to steal their hearts. The girl was plagued by a lock of her dark brown hair that escaped its simple bindings. She paid its hindrance no mind as she kept her steady gaze fixed on his as if she could lend her dearest friend some of her unflappable strength.

"That's a lie!" she accused, her voice harsher than she had intended. She immediately softened her tone and took both of his hands in hers. A plain but beautiful betrothal ring gleamed with the echo of promise on her left hand; an unending Celtic design in pure gold that had belonged to his mother. "You don't have to go! What of England, and of Locksley?" Her line of questioning begged a third, and despite the tightness in her chest she felt that she must voice it or forever be short of breath. "What of me?"

"Its is for all three of those things that I _do_ go," he explained in a pained tone, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "For the last most of all. If I and all of England does not support the King in this war then freedom and hope will soon be things that children only read about in fairytales." His voice trailed off as he lifted one of his hands to tuck the rebellious strand of her deep chocolate coloured hair behind her ear and a single tear was lost to his touch as his fingers lingered overlong on her plump white cheek.

"I do not wish such a fate upon _our_ children."

At this she looked up sharply, almost ready to see that playful hint of teasing she had come to know and expect as a matter of course in her beloved's sky blue eyes and, seeing none, she dissolved. Tears now began to course steadily down her face as she broke on the inside, and had it not been for those twin telltale rivers of deep sadness one might have never suspected she suffered at all. Knowing her the way he did the boy simply stepped forward and took her into his arms, enclosing her tightly as though this one embrace may have to last him for the rest of this lifetime and most of the next.

"Marian," he said softly, regretfully letting go of her with on arm long enough to stroke the crown of her head even as his lips sought hers to seal their fates with a kiss. Her thin shoulders shook silently as she began to cry in earnest, almost able to physically feel her heart being ripped in two at the prospect of first losing her betrothed, her Robin first to the King's allegiance and second to the cruel hands of war. She shook her head with determination and pulled away from his chest, her hands sliding up between them both to provide mind numbing distance and to sweep the tears from her face. "Marian, I--"

"I know," she interrupted, fearful that he had been about to say those three little words that would damn them both to an eternity of 'what ifs'. "You have to go." She put on a brave face, her slightly dimpled chin lifting itself as though she were already steeling her heart against him, his charms and the life that might have been theirs had time not been so strictly set against them. She knew that her affections would make it harder on him to leave and she also knew instinctively what she must do. In an instant her fingers had slipped the betrothal ring from her finger whilst her eyes had kept her steady, lost in his for perhaps the last time. She took his hand and pressed the ring into his palm, regretting what must happen now.

"So go." The instant the ring left her possession she looked at Robin of Locksley with all the affection that one might feel for a very dear friend upon their quitting your company, but beyond that she did not show any other feeling. There was nothing in the lingering gaze she now directed at him to show she was a lover losing her beloved, and in that one, single glance she lied to Robin and broke both their hearts. She turned away from him when she felt he had been sufficiently convinced of everything and nothing at once; that she still loved him but not in the way that he wished, that she would wait for his return with hope and good will but that she may very well be married to another before such a happy day came to pass.

Marian turned away from Robin and stepped out from under the selfish shade of the tree and began the agonizing, long walk to Knighton Hall where she would lock herself resolutely in her room for the next two months, leaving her heart and her betrothal ring behind with her soul mate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Part One of the 'Between the Lines' series. This piece takes place after 1:1 of the BBC's production of _Robin Hood_ where we see how Marian is effected after knowing that Robin has come home from the Holy Land.

_Song for this piece: 'I Sold My Soul' - Kelsey Montanez_

Episode 1 Backstory

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I SOLD MY SOUL

_Part One_

The simple wooden door to Marian's bedchamber flew open with such force that the lady of Knighton Hall was startled where she sat at her vanity. The hairbrush she had been using to detangle her long chocolate curls clattered to the floor, the ivory backing saved only by the grace of the threadbare rug that served to take the chill from the evenings as autumn fell upon Nottingham once more. Her blue eyes were wide as she looked to the intruder but seeing only her maid, Penny, she relaxed and looked playfully peevish than anything more sinister.

"And what do you mean by bursting in here, Penny?" she asked the younger girl in a slightly amused tone. Marian had always been a girl beyond her years both in sense and understanding; something which her father insisted was a failing at times because it caused her to second guess her elders and speak when women ought to have remained silent. Penny took no notice of the subtle censure and puffed comically from her gallop in from the village. Marian waited with her eyebrows barely raised.

"My lady!" gasped the flustered young girl. "The village's afire with gossip! They're sayin' that the Earl of Huntingdon has returned from the war!"

Marian, who had already seen the runaway rogue since his return managed to look expressly nonplussed.

"Is _that_ all?" she asked her servant, her tone slightly incredulous as if to suggest that she cared nothing for this monumental news. "Good heavens, Penny! I had at least expected to hear that the pigs had gotten into the garden!"

Penny, who had clearly been expecting a more exuberant answer from her mistress appeared decidedly crestfallen. "You already knew!" she accused.

"No indeed," Marian lied. "Why should I know? And what's more," she stooped to pick up her brush and returned to untangling her unruly hair, "Why should I _care_?"

Frowning, Penny stepped forward to take the brush from her lady's hand and usurp the task. She was evidently concerned. Everyone knew that the lady Marian had been betrothed to Robin of Locksley and that it was his going to fight in the Holy War that had broken their pledge of matrimony, therefore it was similarly assumed by the lesser citizens of Nottingham that his return might mean a renewal of those affections and promises which had seemed such a very good idea to everyone five years prior. Indeed Robin had returned, Marian remained unmarried and everything should have gone back to the way it _would_ have been if not for a boy's fancy for adventure and a girl's stubborn refusal to let him go on good terms. Her mistress' obvious indifference to this exceptional news, however, gave penny something else to think about.

"My Lady!" yelped the maid before she remembered herself. She lowered her voice slightly and pursed her lips before continuing. "Surely he must still love you! Five years away in a horrid, foreign place with none of the comforts of 'ome and no resolve but his own to keep him warm at night!" Penny's tone grew more fanciful and a sly smile tugged at one corner of her mouth as she set aside the brush and began to braid Marian's hair. "They say he's more handsome than ever! Rugged-like," teased the maid, delivering a knowing glance into the mirror which reflected the pair in order to see if her mistress showed any signs of yielding to the gossip.

Marian remained resolute, and the artic gaze that she delivered through the mirror was mercifully softened in the refraction lest it have chilled the poor maid more than was her due. Penny wisely decided to drop the subject, busying herself with an extremely complicated braid before she deemed it safe to speak again.

"I wonder if there will be an Autumn ball," she mused. "I often wonder that they do not give more feasts at the Castle. Lord Edward certainly was never wanting for entertainment."

"The new Sheriff does not wish his _hard earned_ tax money spent in such a frivolous manner I daresay," Marian replied absently, her mind elsewhere.

Robin certainly had looked handsome enough when he had come to the house begging for an audience with her father. She had expertly pulled the bow on him before she had even recognized him; a face she had thought she would have known forever in a crowd of thousands had taken her completely by surprise. He _had_ changed, that much was evident. His voice was deeper, more manly, and the scruff that feathered his face was thicker and more mature than when they had parted ways those many moons ago. His eyes had been the thing she'd recognized, those brilliant blue eyes that had always managed to see straight to the heart of a problem, right into the thick of a lie and directly to the core of her soul…

"My lady?"

"Mmm?"

Penny looked amused, now, as though she knew the punch-line for the joke Marian was struggling to get.

"Nevermind."

The maid continued to braid, and the mistress continued to stare at her reflection in the mirror, wondering if robin had been able to see through her mask the day before as easily as Penny did now.


End file.
